In today’s digital world, most people assume direct mail is a dying medium. This could not be further from the truth. Direct mail is currently undergoing major changes as it is resurfacing as a valuable marketing channel.

There was a frantic knock at my office door. I opened it to find an old friend from the industry. He was looking shakier than Kanye’s PR firm.

There’s a reason why certain consumer products have maintained the same design and function for decades: Despite all the advantages technology affords, some things are best enjoyed in their original form.

Marketing communications and marketing channels are changing rapidly. Not all business-to-business (B2B) marketers are keeping up. Too many B2B marketers base their decisions on results gleaned in a marketing landscape that doesn’t resemble today’s – one where marketing communications were focused on products and brands, not on the customers who purchased them. That may have been acceptable in the past, but not in a time where personalized, relevant data-driven communications have become the norm.

The crowd is loud and the arena is dark.

The Direct Mail Doctor’s virtual waiting room is filled. Patients from all over want to find a proven cure for their direct mail maladies.


But that’s no surprise; the good doctor is definitely on a roll. In his last article, he found the antidote for some sticky issues involving envelope messaging and formats.

Direct marketers are generally logical, process-driven people. They don’t like scares or surprises and tend to have a rationale explanation for anything that happens in the course of a campaign.

In his last article, the Direct Mail Doctor covered the power of personalization and the vital importance of the P.S.


But now, there are two new cases to contend with.

A long time ago in a ZIP code far away, I worked as an editor on a travel industry trade magazine. Travel agents were the primary readers of this magazine.

On “closing day,” the day before the next issue came out, I would join a group of about a half-dozen senior editors in a budget meeting. The managing editor would provide us all with printouts of the stories being considered for the front page, and we’d all read through them one by one and afterwards comment on them. The idea was to decide which would be the lead story on the front page, which would be the “off lead,” or secondary story, and so on down the ranks.

In his last article, the Direct Mail Doctor offered some healthy advice about the amount of information in direct mail letters and whether or not to include a response device.

But the good Doctor’s work is never done.